Overalls have clothed people at work or play since the 1700s. Overalls have been worn by railroad engineers, college students, hippies, farmers, mechanics, painters, children, and rap music artists. Overalls, once the exclusive purview of the lower classes in the 18th century, were one of the first types of clothing to be mass-produced. The color of the overalls produced were significant with painters and plasterers wearing white, farmers wearing blue or brown, railway workers sporting pinstripes, and blue denim being a favorite among mechanics.
Traditional bib overalls, however, have always been problematic for laborers of any kind. One of the failings with regard to the typical pair of bib overalls is that, during physical work involving a great deal of movement, one of the shoulder straps easily slips off. This provides a source of irritation to the wearer. Further, because these straps tend to slide off, they do not provide a suitable support means for pants, as well as for items such as cell phones that may be present in pockets. Simply put, the common article of clothing known as a bib overall, has long suffered from the above drawbacks.
Improvements in clothing comprise many different types of features. Simple ornamental improvements are noted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,987 to Teachout et al., in which customized fabric receiving strips are shown and described. Variations on the invention in Teachout include additional receiving loops as well as additional means to attach an ornament to a garment. The use of straps in conjunction with clothing to provide a superior garment is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,789 to Young et al., in which a clothing article and safety harness are combined together to form an improved overall garment. The usage of straps to support pants has also seen recent improvements. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,031 to Lewis, a pair of pants was provided with a plurality of horizontal slots, through which supports straps were able to pass through the slots and able to be secured to the appropriate length. In place of slots, loops were also provided which functioned similarly to the slots. Despite these improvements, a need in the art still exists for a bib overall that reduces the slippage of the shoulder straps from the shoulder of the wearer as well as provide secure support for portable electronic devices, such as cell phones, for the convenience of the wearer.